Italy warns India of consequences if marines face death

Premier Letta holds snap meeting

(By Christopher Livesay)
(ANSA) - Rome, January 10 - Italy vowed 'countermeasures'
Friday against India if reports were confirmed that the
government there was considering the death penalty as a possible
punishment for two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian
fishermen.
Only a day after official assurances to the contrary,
Indian newspaper The Hindustan Times reported that India's
anti-terrorist National Investigation Agency (NIA) was pressing
to apply a severe 2002 law designed to fight terrorism in
international waters against Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore
Girone.
Under the law, capital punishment is a possible punishment.

The paper cited an unidentified, high-ranking government
source as saying "there is an agreement" between government
ministers to allow the move.
Latorre and Girone are accused of killing Valentine (aka
Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki on February 15, 2012, when the
marines allegedly mistook them for pirates and opened fire on
the Indians' fishing trawler from the privately owned
Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie.

The shooting occurred just off the coast of Kerala in
southern India, near traditional Indian fishing grounds in the
Laccadive Sea.

The Italian government responded the reports of the pair
facing the death penalty with a snap meeting, including Premier
Enrico Letta and Foreign Minister Emma Bonino.
Italian government envoy Staffan De Mistura said India
reneging on its promises would be "unacceptable", and if they
do, "we will take our countermeasures," without specifying what
those would be.
Italy's minister of defence blamed Indian politics for the
report and vowed that Italy would stand by its marines.
"It is clear that the election campaign in India is
approaching in a bullying way. The Italian government will show
the necessary firmness on the marines," Mario Mauro told Italian
Radio Anch'io.

The Indian press report came one day after Indian and
Italian government representatives said there was no chance that
the two Italian marines would face the death penalty.
De Mistura had even repeated assurances made earlier by
India's foreign affairs minister, reiterating a longstanding
guarantee from India that the death penalty will not be used in
the controversial case.
"The question of applying the death penalty to the marines
has long been totally excluded, both in past statements by
Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid," and the minister's
more recent comments, said De Mistura Thursday.
The CNN-IBM network in India reported Khurshid had repeated
his assurances on Thursday, building on guarantees previously
given by the Indian government.
By Friday Indian Interior Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde
said that no decision had been made on how to proceed in the
case, but that there would be one "in the next two or three
days".

The question of capital punishment for the marines hit the
headlines again this week when the NIA applied for custody of
the two marines, triggering fears that it may seek the death
penalty.
Last year, there were concerns about the NIA's involvement
and fears it would try to apply the 2002 anti-terrorism law.

As a result, on Wednesday lawyers representing the marines
had a hearing in their trial in New Delhi postponed until
January 30, amid new fears that prosecutors wanted to press for
capital punishment.
De Mistura said at that time he would use the next few
weeks to ensure that there is no doubt that capital punishment
is excluded in the case.

Earlier in 2013, the government expressed optimism the pair
would be home for Christmas.

But those hopes were thwarted by numerous legal snags.
One of them occurred when the two marines, allowed a
four-week parole to return to Italy to vote in the February 2013
general election, remained rather than returning to India as
promised.
The pair had earlier been permitted to come to Italy for
Christmas 2012 and returned to India after the holidays.

After a drawn-out diplomatic row, Italy agreed to hand the
men back to Indian authorities in March 2013 despite contesting
India's right to jurisdiction, given the incident took place in
international waters.